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Los Angeles Notes: Hyland, Gordon, Westbrook, James

February 13th, 2023 at 5:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Bones Hyland believes he’s the answer at the point for the Clippers, ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk writes. The Nuggets dealt the disgruntled young guard, who fell out of their rotation, and Hyland is thrilled with opportunity.

“For me, I feel like I never had that opportunity to showcase my playmaking ability and be able to play that point guard role a lot and show that I’m just more than just a scorer,” he said. “I’m actually a point guard, you know? And I offer that at a high level and if you put me in that position, I’m going to thrive in that position as well.”

Hyland was routed to the Clippers as part of a four-team deal. He’ll battle current starter Terance Mann for minutes.

We have more from the Los Angeles teams:

In the same press conference, the Clippers also introduced two veterans they added before the trade deadline, guard Eric Gordon and center Mason Plumlee. Gordon believes he can take some of the scoring load off Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, Youngmisuk relays in the same story. “I can space the floor for them. And I can create my own shot,” Gordon said. “And I see that they switch a lot on defense. I’ve been doing that the past seven, eight years. And I guard bigs, too. You got to have a two-way mindset playing offense and defense. And I think I’m able to bring that.”
While Hyland fortifies the point guard spot, George reiterated that he wouldn’t mind if his former Oklahoma City teammate, Russell Westbrook, chose to take a buyout from the Jazz and join the Clippers, according to Janis Carr of the Orange County Register. “I’m a big believer in him and a fan of what Russ’ work is, having had one of my best seasons in my career alongside of him,” George said. “I’ve seen what he can do, night in, night out and I think he’s still got a lot of game there.”
LeBron James hasn’t played since breaking the league’s scoring record on Tuesday. The Lakers superstar will miss his third consecutive game on Monday due to left ankle soreness, Jovan Buha of The Athletic tweets. He was spotted icing his feet after the team’s shootaround in Portland, Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register tweets. The Lakers have one more game — at home vs. New Orleans — before the All-Star break.
Speaking of Westbrook, Goon takes a deep dive on the veteran guard’s two-season stint with the Lakers.

Clippers’ George, Morris Advocate For Adding Westbrook

February 11th, 2023 at 7:53am CST by Luke Adams

If Russell Westbrook becomes available via a buyout, veteran forwards Paul George and Marcus Morris would like to see the Clippers sign him, they said on Friday night, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.

The Clippers, who have an open spot on their 15-man roster, traded away two veteran point guards – John Wall and Reggie Jackson – in deadline deals, leaving the club somewhat thin at the position. George said he thinks Westbrook would be an ideal fit.

“I mean if there’s, you know, somebody out there — Russell,” George said, per Youngmisuk. “If it makes sense and obviously it goes with our team, we’re all for it. You know, we need a point guard. But you know, (at) the same (time), I think we’re good as well. If nothing happened, we got enough in this locker room to be able to make it work.

“But it would definitely improve our team if we had that traditional point guard to kind of get us in things and make the game easy. So hopefully Russell sees this and we figure something out.”

Asked what Kawhi Leonard thinks of the idea of adding Westbrook, George said his star teammate “likes it.” Told that George was openly talking about wanting Westbrook, Morris also threw his support behind the suggestion.

“I’m campaigning, too, for him then,” said Morris, who went on to suggest that Westbrook didn’t get a chance to be himself with the Lakers. “… We accept him open arms, man. Let him be himself. We need the personality, we need the veteran. He’s been in the playoffs a lot of times, been to the championship. I want him to come. I think that you can’t kill a wounded dog. You give him an opportunity to come back, it could be dangerous.”

Westbrook technically remains a member of the Jazz for the time being, and general manager Justin Zanik said on Friday that no decisions have been made about his future yet.

Still, while Zanik suggested that Westbrook seems open to finishing the season in Utah, the retooling Jazz would likely prefer to focus on playing their youngsters, as well as veterans who will be under contract beyond this season. As for Westbrook, he might rather join a team closer to title contention. A previous report stated that he has interest in the Clippers and Heat. The Bulls, led by Westbrook’s former head coach Billy Donovan, have been mentioned as a possible suitor too.

Although Clippers coach Tyronn Lue has expressed some interest in adding a traditional point guard and a few of the Clippers’ key players are enthusiastic about Westbrook, there has been some skepticism that the team’s front office would be on board with the idea of adding the former MVP, per Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times and Mark Medina of NBA.com (Twitter link). President of basketball operations Lawrence Frank noted after the deadline that some contenders don’t have classic point guards in their rotations, as Youngmisuk writes.

“You play through your best players,” Frank said. “If there was a point guard who could be in our top eight or nine, you know we looked at those guys. … We need someone that won’t be played off the floor defensively, someone who can share the ball responsibilities but not be so ball dominant. You know the ball is going to be in Kawhi and PG’s hands about 60 percent of the time, so it’s a delicate balance. So, I think regardless of ‘point guard’ or not, they got to be able to shoot, because you know in the playoffs the stars are not going to have all that type of space.”

If the Jazz and Westbrook do reach a buyout agreement, he would likely give back the portion of his $47MM+ salary that he expects to receive from a new team.

Three-point shooting (29.6%) and turnovers (3.5 per game) continued to be an issue for Westbrook this season in Los Angeles, he’s still a talented scorer and play-maker, with the ability to get into the paint. He averaged 15.9 PPG, 7.5 APG, and 6.2 RPG in 52 gams (28.7 MPG) as the Lakers’ sixth man.

2023 NBA All-Star Reserves Announced

February 2nd, 2023 at 6:24pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The league has announced its 2023 All-Star reserves during a pregame broadcast on TNT, as voted on by NBA head coaches. As usual, the list of 14 selections featured some interesting surprises.

For the Eastern Conference, coaches voted in Sixers center Joel Embiid (the reigning Player of the Month in the East), Heat center Bam Adebayo, Bulls wing DeMar DeRozan, Celtics wing Jaylen Brown, Bucks guard Jrue Holiday, Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton, and Knicks forward Julius Randle.

Holiday, who is making his second overall All-star appearance this year, last earned an All-Star nod a decade ago while playing for Philadelphia.

Randle will receive a $1.2MM salary bonus as a result of being named an All-Star this season, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link). Marks adds (via Twitter) that Holiday will get a $324K bonus. And as long as he appears in at least 65 contests this year, Brown will earn a $1.55MM bonus after having qualified for the All-Star game, Marks tweets.

Among the most notable omissions in the East were a handful of point guards: the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson, the Hawks’ Trae Young, the Cavaliers’ Darius Garland, and the Sixers’ James Harden. Miami swingman Jimmy Butler also missed out. Young, Harden and Butler all made the cut last season.

In the Western Conference, Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant, Kings center Domantas Sabonis, Thunder point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Clippers forward Paul George, Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard, Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen, and Grizzlies big man Jaren Jackson Jr. were selected as reserves.

Being named to the All-Star team again this year will earn Sabonis a $1.3MM bonus, per Marks (Twitter link).

Lakers center Anthony Davis, Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox, Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards, Suns guard Devin Booker, and Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon were among the Western Conference snubs.

Gilgeous-Alexander, Markkanen and Jackson are the lone first-time All-Stars among these 14 picks.

All-Star weekend tips off on February 17 in Salt Lake City. Los Angeles power forward LeBron James and Milwaukee power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, the captains of their respective conferences, will draft their teams ahead of the 2023 All-Star Game on Sunday, February 19.

L.A. Notes: LeBron, T. Bryant, Lakers, Conley, Clippers

January 31st, 2023 at 3:03pm CST by Luke Adams

After missing Monday’s game in Brooklyn due to left foot/ankle soreness, Lakers star LeBron James has been listed as questionable to play on Tuesday in New York, tweets Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times.

While that status indicates that his availability for tonight remains up in the air, sources tell ESPN’s Dave McMenamin (Twitter link) that LeBron will play against the Knicks. He’s just 117 points away from catching Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.

Here’s more on the NBA’s two Los Angeles-based teams:

While his production fell off last week with Anthony Davis back, Lakers center Thomas Bryant showed on Monday that he remains a crucial – and highly effective – insurance policy, scoring 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting with Davis unavailable, Turner writes for The Los Angeles Times. “I’m willing to do whatever the team needs me to do in order to win,” Bryant said. “Whether that’s coming off the bench, I’m with it. Or if that’s starting, I’m ready as well.”
Now that the Lakers have traded away their 2029 second-round pick, Eric Pincus of Sports Business Classroom considers how the team could add protections to their 2029 first-round pick if it’s traded this season. Protections aren’t allowed to be added to picks beyond seven years, so if the Lakers trade their 2029 first-rounder with protections at February’s deadline, they won’t be able to include language that pushes it to 2030.
ESPN’s Tim MacMahon is the latest reporter to throw cold water on the idea of the Clippers acquiring point guard Mike Conley from the Jazz. After Jake Fischer reported last week that the idea of the Clips landing Conley was probably “unrealistic,” MacMahon said on an episode of The Lowe Post podcast that it’s unlikely to happen because L.A. is reluctant to give up a first-round pick. “If they are (going to give up a first-rounder) for a point guard, I think it’s more likely (Fred) VanVleet than it is for Conley,” MacMahon said (hat tip to Scott Polacek of Bleacher Report).
It took some time for the Clippers‘ star combo of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George to hit their stride this season, but the pairing is finally paying dividends, according to Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times. The team had won five straight games before Leonard and George sat out the second half of a back-to-back set on Sunday. L.A. won’t have another back-to-back until March.

Clippers Rumors: Mann, Lowry, VanVleet, Hartenstein, Covington, Kawhi

January 24th, 2023 at 10:05am CST by Luke Adams

As the Clippers explore the trade market for potential backcourt or frontcourt upgrades, they continue to rebuff inquiries on fourth-year guard Terance Mann, Marc Stein reports in his latest Substack story.

Entering the season, the decision on the Clippers’ starting point guard came down to Reggie Jackson vs. John Wall, but with Jackson’s role cut back and Wall injured, it’s Mann who has started the club’s last nine games at point guard.

One team source who spoke to Law Murray of The Athletic suggested that there’s a belief Mann could be the Clippers’ starting point guard beyond this season. However, it’s unclear how enthusiastic head coach Tyronn Lue is about using Mann in that role. As Murray explains, Lue views Mann as more of a small forward and barely used him in some first-half games. The Clippers’ coach also likes having a more traditional point guard in his rotation, Murray adds.

Here’s more on the Clippers:

In an article focused on the Clippers’ need to upgrade their roster, Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer identifies Heat point guard Kyle Lowry, Raptors point guard Fred VanVleet, and Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein as some of the players L.A. has interest in. Lowry and VanVleet won a championship with Kawhi Leonard, while Hartenstein had the best season of his NBA career a year ago with the Clips.
According to Murray, there’s a sense that Lue would like to replace Robert Covington with a more reliable center, while the front office would like the team to find a way to make a “long lineup” (which includes Covington) work. Murray suggests the trade deadline may represent a “demarcation point” between Lue and the front office on Covington’s future in Los Angeles.
While this should come as no surprise, a team source confirms to Murray that the Clippers haven’t given any consideration to trading Leonard.
Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com explores whether or not the frequent absences of Leonard and Paul George from the Clippers’ lineup has created a sense of frustration within the organization due to the club’s inability to establish any chemistry or consistency.

Pacific Notes: Johnson, Payne, George, LeBron

January 16th, 2023 at 10:30pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

A return to the floor for Suns starting power forward Cameron Johnson appears to be imminent, reports Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. Johnson has been sidelined for Phoenix since November 4 with a torn right meniscus that required surgery.

“Just sometime when I get back from the [team’s just-wrapped road trip], but I feel pretty good,” Johnson said when asked about his return timeline. “Taking it one day at a time right now, but I’m looking forward to getting back soon, very soon.”

In his eight healthy games this year, Johnson has averaged 13.0 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 1.8 APG and 1.1 SPG. The Suns have gone 15-21 since Johnson’s injury, though other major absences to Phoenix players have played a role in that record, too.

There’s more out of the Pacific Division:

Suns reserve point guard Cameron Payne is set to have his right foot sprain reassessed later in January, Rankin notes (Twitter link). “I haven’t started doing anything,” Payne said. “I think [Monday] when I get back into Phoenix, we should be doing our next checkups and check off a few things for me to get back on the court.” Payne has played just twice since December 13.
Injured Clippers star forward Paul George has been cleared for full team practices, but head coach Tyronn Lue is unsure of an exact timeline for his return to the floor, tweets Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
All-Star Lakers forward LeBron James took to social media today to register his discontent about what he sees as inconsistent game officiating. “And all year they keep telling me to my face on the court, ‘I didn’t see it’ or ‘It wasn’t a [foul],'” James tweeted. “It’s not making sense to me seriously! Frustrating as hell man! Anyways keep going Squad!” James seemed particularly upset during L.A.’s two latest losses, to the Mavericks on Thursday and the Sixers Sunday.

L.A. Notes: Pistons, Cousins, Lakers Frontcourt, Clippers

January 13th, 2023 at 7:54pm CST by Rory Maher

The Lakers have long been linked to forward Bojan Bogdanovic — back when he was still on Utah and in the months since he was traded to Detroit. In an article about potential deadline buyers and sellers with Chris Mannix, Howard Beck of Sports Illustrated hears that the Lakers and Pistons “have discussed a deal that would include both Bogdanovic and Nerlens Noel.”

Rumors last month indicated that the Lakers offered Patrick Beverley, Kendrick Nunn and a protected first-round pick for Bogdanovic, but this is the first time we’ve seen them linked to Noel this season. Adding his $9.24MM salary to that framework complicates a trade from a salary-matching perspective — the Lakers would have to add three players on minimum salaries.

Replacing Beverley and Nunn with Russell Westbrook‘s $47.1MM expiring deal would mean the Pistons would have to add more salary, so more players would have to be involved in either scenario.

Here’s more out of Los Angeles:

DeMarcus Cousins‘ audition for the Lakers is scheduled for today, tweets Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report. In case you missed it, the Lakers are also working out Meyers Leonard today. Both big men are unrestricted free agents.
LeBron James said earlier this week that he believes a frontcourt with himself, Anthony Davis and Thomas Bryant “could be extremely beneficial for our ballclub.” Head coach Darvin Ham agreed that it was worth looking into, according to Jovan Buha of The Athletic (Twitter link). “They’re all highly skilled players. … They can all score at all three levels. They can defend. They all can have good activity, good instincts. So, yeah, that’s something we’ll definitely take a look at,” Ham said.
In an appearance on ESPN’s NBA Today, Richard Jefferson said there might be some interference from the Clippers‘ front office when it comes to coaching decisions. “This is pure speculation… I’m hearing grumblings that people up top are having opinions about who should be playing… There’s a lot of cooks in the kitchen and that is never a good recipe,” he said (Twitter video link via Talkin’ NBA). Ordinarily, I wouldn’t put much stock into something that Jefferson says is “pure speculation,” but he does have connections to the Clippers — he played under head coach Tyronn Lue with the Cavaliers and under president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank when Frank coached the Nets.
Lue told reporters, including Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN (Twitter video link), that Paul George (hamstring) and Luke Kennard (calf) would not practice with the Clippers on Thursday, but both players were working out and shooting prior to practice. George has been ruled out for Friday’s contest against Denver and Kennard seems unlikely to suit up.

Pacific Notes: Warriors, Klay, Kawhi, Clippers, Kings

January 4th, 2023 at 7:10pm CST by Rory Maher

The Warriors provided updates (via Twitter) on several injured players on Wednesday evening. Star guard Stephen Curry will have his left shoulder reevaluated on Saturday, which is in line with what the team previously announced.

Starting forward Andrew Wiggins has begun practicing and is ramping up his conditioning after missing the past 14 games due to a strained right adductor and then an illness. He will be reevaluated later this week, per the team.

The Warriors also announced that JaMychal Green (right lower leg infection), Jonathan Kuminga (right foot sprain) and James Wiseman (left ankle sprain) will all be out at least one more week — that’s when they’ll be reevaluated.

Here’s more from the Pacific:

Klay Thompson missed two-plus seasons after a couple of major injuries, first a torn ACL in the 2019 NBA Finals, followed by a torn Achilles tendon. On Monday, he scored a season-high 54 points in the Warriors‘ double-overtime victory over the Hawks, a performance he doesn’t take for granted. “It’s a huge accomplishment for me,” Thompson said, per Kendra Andrews of ESPN. “There were some hard days for me when I didn’t know that this would be possible in real time. I am just going to embrace the heck out of it.”
After missing Monday’s loss to Miami with a non-COVID illness, Kawhi Leonard is no longer on the Clippers‘ injury report for Thursday’s contest in Denver, tweets Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. Paul George, who tweaked his hamstring on Monday, is listed as questionable, while Nicolas Batum is out with a left ankle sprain.
Can Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue find lineups that work whether or not Leonard and/or George are in the lineup? Law Murray of The Athletic explores that topic, writing that if Lue is unable to optimize the current group, trades could be in order for a team that hopes to compete for a championship.
The Kings have three players — Matthew Dellavedova, Chima Moneke and KZ Okpala — on partially guaranteed deals, and none are locks to have their salaries guaranteed for the rest of the season, writes James Ham of TheKingsBeat.com. It’s possible one or more might be released in the next few days (the deadline to waive partially and non-guaranteed deals before they become fully guaranteed is January 7) in order to create roster flexibility ahead of the trade deadline, according to Ham, who says the Kings figure to be aggressive in their push to break their lengthy playoff drought.

Paul George’s Status TBD After Hamstring Tweak

January 3rd, 2023 at 7:57am CST by Luke Adams

Clippers forward Paul George was limited to playing just five minutes in the fourth quarter of Monday’s loss to Miami after tweaking his right hamstring, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.

George said after the game that he’ll receive treatment on the injury on Tuesday and see how it responds. It remains to be seen whether he’ll be available for the team’s brief road trip to Denver on Thursday and Minnesota on Friday.

As Youngmisuk observes, George missed seven games in late November and early December after straining that same right hamstring, so it has been a recurring issue this season for the Clippers star.

“Often hamstrings are very, very serious injuries,” George said on Monday, per Youngmisuk. “So, I thought the first approach when I was dealing with my hamstring (during the previous absence) was just good, smart. We waited until it felt better and I didn’t have any issues, once I returned. “We won’t know more until (Tuesday). But my job is to do the best that I can and go from there.”

The Clippers have been relatively cautious this season with health issues, especially those affecting George and Kawhi Leonard, who missed Monday’s game due to a non-COVID illness. The team is taking the long view and its top priority to be at full strength entering the postseason, so we likely won’t see George or Leonard back in action until they’re feeling 100% or very close to it.

Western Notes: Clippers, Gilgeous-Alexander, Lillard, Green

December 20th, 2022 at 8:21pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Clippers were able to practice at full strength on Tuesday, a rarity for a team that has dealt with numerous injuries, Andrew Grief of the Los Angeles Times notes. That includes Paul George, Norman Powell, Ivica Zubac and Reggie Jackson, who have missed games this month due a variety of ailments.

“It’s exciting to finally actually have our whole team almost complete, be ready to play and just try to get rotations down and see what guys plays good with who,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “And so we’re starting all over again, but it’s a good feeling to have your whole team back.”

We have more from around the Western Conference:

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hit a game-winning shot for the Thunder in a two-point victory over the Trail Blazers on Monday. Gilgeous-Alexander says he’s “super comfortable” in those situations, according to The Oklahoman’s Joe Mussatto. His teammates concur. “The ball had to end up in our best player’s hand,” guard Luguenz Dort said.
Damian Lillard became the Trail Blazers’ all-time leading scorer on Monday, surpassing Clyde Drexler. Center Jusuf Nurkic already considered his teammate the franchise’s greatest player, Jason Quick of The Athletic writes. “No disrespect to Clyde — he’s one of the all-time greats — but even if Dame didn’t pass him, I feel like Dame is still the greatest Blazer ever,” he said. “When you put everything together — the way he plays the game, what he does off the court, everything — he’s a one of a kind player. Hopefully he retires here.”
Warriors forward JaMychal Green has entered the league’s health and safety protocols, Kendra Andrews of ESPN tweets. Green, who missed Wednesday’s game against the Knicks, had one of his best outings for Golden State on Sunday. He contributed 15 points and seven rebounds in 17 minutes during a victory over Toronto.